History Videogame / Deponia

* {{FanService}}:

** In ''Goodbye Deponia'' June at one point wears a very skimpy outfit while dancing provocatively, but as she's being humiliatingly forced to play the monkey for an organ grinder in order to earn a crank to get back to her boyfriend who, unbeknownst to her, is currently being consumed by some sort of PuppeteerParasite, [[FanDisservice it's hard to be titillated by the situation.]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In ''Goodbye Deponia'', Rufus is subjected to one of these when his usual method of solving problems (basically just winging it and ignoring the consequences) comes back to bite him in a big way. [[spoiler: Trapped inside a machine meant to torture other people, he is led over to Goal with Argus intending to extract the Ascension Codes out of her. Rufus attempts to operate the machine, only to have it go out of control and [[GoneHorriblyWrong inject Goal with a fatal overdose of sedative.]] Rufus wails the trope line while the machine he's in is tossed overboard.]] Also serves as an intro to the game's DarkestHour.

[[InAWorld On a landfill-planet called Deponia]], there lives a [[BunglingInventor clever and ambitious]] but [[ComedicSociopathy reckless and short-sighted]] fool named Rufus, who wants nothing more than to get off of Deponia and reach the beautiful flying city of Elysium in the sky. After his latest failed escape attempt, he manages to knock an Elysian girl called Goal off the cruiser she is traveling on to the surface below, breaking her brain implant in the process. This prompts her fiance to offer a reward for her return, giving the egoistical Rufus a ticket off the junk pile he calls home. So begins a [[PointAndClick point-and-click]] [[AdventureGame adventure]] where Rufus takes his unconscious love from his home in Kuvaq across the trash-filled world to the meeting with her fiance, all the while chased by the Organon, cyborg-soldiers with insidious plans for Goal and Deponia.

The rest of the cast includes a variety of colorful characters, almost all of whom hate or are casually contemptuous of [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist Rufus]]. These include Toni, Rufus' ex-girlfriend; Wenzel, Rufus' best friend who laughs at his multiple attempts to escape; Cletus, Goal's Elysian fiance who [[IdenticalStranger looks identical to Rufus]] [[VillainousGoatee but with a goatee]]; and Doc, a handyman and brain surgeon who enjoys meditation and alcohol. ''Deponia'', also known as ''Welcome to Deponia'', was released in January 2012 by Creator/DaedalicEntertainment.

* OutsideContextProblem: [[spoiler:The Utopians, [[PettingZooPeople anthropomorphic elephants]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin native to the planet Utopia]], kickstart the plot of ''Deponia Doomsday'' by coming from the future, where they had already made contact with Deponians, to visit Deponia's past and take in the historic atmosphere. However, their visit [[SpannerInTheWorks accidentally derails the timeline]] and leads to Rufus stealing their time machine, leading to the events of the game, which prompts them to adopt a KnightTemplar mentality of [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong preserving the timeline at all costs]], which include derailing Goal's efforts to save Rufus, and in the end lead to successful timeline restoration as they and alternate Goal and Rufus(es) end up stranded in the Stone Age.]]

*** [[spoiler: Utopia is not only habitable, but ''inhabited'' by [[PettingZooPeople anthropomorphic elephants]]. Two time-traveling natives of the planet, arriving from the future where Deponians and Utopians made first contact to see the past for themselves, end up accidentally upsetting the timeline and serve as {{Outside Context Problem}}s of the story in their attempts to restore the original course of events.]]

* AmbiguousEnding: The ending of ''Goodbye Deponia'' leaves some big questions unanswered, which is a somewhat odd choice given the overall whimsical tone of the series. [[spoiler: [[BolivianArmyEnding Did Rufus really die?]] [[NeverFoundTheBody What happened to Argus?]] What will happen to Elysium now that the Council of Elders know that Deponia is inhabited and have ordered the suspension of the Utopia mission?]] WordOfGod has confirmed that this was a deliberate choice, as the developers wanted [[spoiler: the fate of Deponia and its inhabitants to be left up to the imagination of the players, to the point where they have suggested that it's possible that [[DisneyDeath Rufus survived his fall]] (though many fans chose to [[KilledOffForReal assume the worst.]]) The series' fourth entry, ''Doomsday Deponia'', initially looked like it had provided a retroactive subversion, as an older, grizzled Rufus was shown in the previews and the game's prologue, indicating that he did survive the fall... but THAT game's ending turns it into a double subversion, as the old Rufus turned out to be from an alternate future that Rufus and Goal deliberately prevent.]]

** First game: [[spoiler:Rufus saves Deponia, but is forced to let Goal leave with Cletus for his plan to work.]]

* ColonyDrop: ''Chaos on Deponia'' reveals that not only is Elyisum [[spoiler:a spaceship meant to send the former Deponian elite to a pristine new planet [[PoweredByAForsakenChild using Deponia's explosion as its means of propulsion]]]], but that it will crash into Deponia if that is not done soon. [[spoiler:With Deponia's destruction averted by the end of ''Goodbye Deponia'', [[InferredHolocaust this is shown to be all but inevitable]].]] [[spoiler:''Deponia Doomsday'' reveals that Elysium does fall back down onto the planet, but does not cause much damage - and the game's ending further reveals that, were Elysium to be successfully launched, it would have [[ShootTheShaggyDog crashed into Utopia, destroying itself and the entire planet in the process]].]]

->''Chorus'': Huzzah, he's off now goodbye!

[[InAWorld On a landfill-planet called Deponia]], there lives a [[BunglingInventor clever and ambitious]] but [[ComedicSociopathy reckless and short-sighted]] fool named Rufus, who wants nothing more than to get off of Deponia and reach the beautiful flying city of Elysium in the sky. After his latest failed escape attempt, he manages to knock an Elysian girl called Goal off the cruiser she is traveling on to the surface below, breaking her brain implant in the process. This prompts her fiance to offer a reward for her return, giving the egotisical Rufus a ticket off the junk pile he calls home. So begins a [[PointAndClick point-and-click]] [[AdventureGame adventure]] where Rufus takes his unconscious love from his home in Kuvaq across the trash-filled world to the meeting with her fiance, all the while chased by the Organon, cyborg-soldiers with insidious plans for Goal and Deponia.

The rest of the cast includes a variety of colorful characters, almost all of whom hate or are casually contemptuous of [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist Rufus]]. These include Toni, Rufus's ex-girlfriend; Wenzel, Rufus's best friend who laughs at his multiple attempts to escape; Cletus, Goal's Elysian fiance who [[IdenticalStranger looks identical to Rufus]] [[VillainousGoatee but with a goatee]]; and Doc, a handyman and brain surgeon who enjoys meditation and alcohol. ''Deponia'', also known as ''Welcome to Deponia'', was released in January 2012 by Creator/DaedalicEntertainment.

The third game and GrandFinale of the trilogy, titled ''Goodbye Deponia'', was released on October 18, 2013. After putting Goal's personality back together, she [[RuleOfThree disappears yet again]]. When looking for her, he finds a cloning machine and thinks that he has found the solution to his problem: [[MesACrowd more Rufuses]] would mean more efficiency in his mission! [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong ...Right?]] Now Rufus has to coordinate his tripled selves to find Goal, reach Elysium and save Deponia from the forces of Organon once and for all.

That was thought to be the end of the series, but on February 25th, 2016, Daedalic announced [[TrilogyCreep a fourth game]], ''Deponia Doomsday'', released five days later on March 1st, 2016. Rufus wakes up from a very strange and horrifying dream in which, right after the ending of the third game, Elysium crashed into Deponia, leaving him as [[ApocalypseHow the only survivor on the planet]]. Determined to not let that happen, and with the help of [=McChronicle=], an eccentric scientist that has detected temporal anomalies manifesting on the planet, Rufus must [[TimeTravel travel in time]] to prevent Deponia ''and'' Elysium from being destroyed. [[RunningGag Yet again]].

Warning! This being an AdventureGame series, [[LateArrivalSpoiler Late Arrival Spoilers]] abound. Browse at your own risk!

** To wit, [[spoiler: after pulling off a successful caper and getting a golden opportunity to reach Elysium and save Deponia with no further conflict, an innocent mistake by Rufus right before they rest for the night ultimately escalates in such a way as to get Goal captured. During the interrogation, Argus reveals himself to also be identical to Rufus and Cletus and details his plan to overthrow Ulysses and have the Organon take over Elysium, offering Goal a chance to elope with him instead of Rufus, who is secretly trapped in an interrogation torture bot and hearing everything. Rufus attempts to escape the bot and subdue Argus but accidentally presses a button that injects Goal with a lethal overdose of sedatives. As she succumbs, the bot is thrown overboard with Rufus still stuck inside. After a particularly solemn chapter intro which shows Rufus banging on the sides of the bot and wailing all the way down, he lands in what seems to be Hell, but turns out to be a cloning facility. Here he finds Goal's body and meets Hermes, the remorseful mastermind behind the plan to destroy Deponia and the creator of the Organon, who turn out to be a clone race. Hermes reveals himself to be Rufus' true "father" and that Rufus, Cletus, and Argus are all genetic prototypes for the Organon, before sacrificing himself to give Rufus one last chance to bring Goal back to life and find another means to save both Elysium and Deponia.]] [[CerberusSyndrome The entire chapter is presented dead-seriously compared to the whole trilogy up to that point, and even once levity returns afterwards, there is a permanent shift to a darker tone for the rest of the story.]]

** The game materials officially refer to the BadFuture Rufus as [[MetalGearSolid Solid Rufus]].

** [[spoiler:A [[LizardFolk fewlock]] gets a [[SeriesMascot circling]]-[[EverythingsBetterWithPlatypi platypus]] version during the prologue of ''Deponia Doomsday''.]]

* EverythingsBetterWithPlatypi: Apparently they're a common animal around the Rust Red Sea, because they're all over the place in ''Chaos on Deponia.'' Chapter 1 has you joining the local chapter of the Platypus club and raising the mystical Platypus Guardians of [[FourElementEnsemble Fire, Water, Air, and Earth]]. ''Goodbye Deponia'' introduces even more, the eggs of which serve as a collection sidequest like the Goal portrait in the previous game. They remain present in the background and play a part in some puzzles and conversations in ''Deponia Doomsday''.

** The intro for Deponia Doomsday has some optic similarities to DoctorWho intro sequences - not a miracle though, considering the whole game consistently deals with time-travelling.

*** And there's [[TabletopGame/TheDarkEye Satinav]], who has no [[ManiacMansion fuel for his chainsaw]].

** Also in the hotel of "Goodbye Deponia", Rufus can crawl into a closet nd cry behind the closed door about his fears to fail saving Deponia from doom. ftwerwards, he comes out and tells himself with greatest confidence: "I'm the best!" - thereby very much mirroring the behaviour of J. D. in an early episode of [[Series/Scrubs]].

* SexyWhateverOutfit: Spunky Goal sports a sexy platypus outfit when battling in the platypus bakara arena. Rufus' corresponding outfit is less "sexy" and more "absurd theme park MascotFighter".

** The intro for Deponia Doomsday has some optic similarities to DoctorWho intro sequences - not a miracle though, considering the whole game consistently deals with time-travelling.

** [[ActionGirl Spunky Goal]]: Adventurous, impatient, and bold. Spunky Goal is only slightly less brash than Rufus himself, on top of being stronger and more aggressive.

*** Returning through the teleporter in the second game's final act causes Rufus to briefly enter TheWhisperedWorld.

** ''Deponia Doomsday'' shows that the residents of Kuvaq are [[GenreSavvy used to this]] and take precautions. Electric appliances, barbecues and even lights are turned off around him wherever he goes. [[spoiler:[[DidNotSeeThatComing Not that it]] [[PrecisionCrash helps them]] [[IncendiaryExponent any]].]]

** The fourth game ''itself'' serves as one towards those who complained about the BittersweetEnding of the third, as well as [[SelfDeprecation the developers themselves]]. To wit, the introduction song and every single chapter contain remarks about "wondering what if", "happy endings" and multiple [[DiscussedTrope discussions]] about [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall reaction to endings in general]], serial installments and TrilogyCreep. [[spoiler:The ending serves only to cement the conclusion of ''Goodbye Deponia'', with Goal being convinced to let go and abandon her quest to save Rufus all but serving as an AudienceSurrogate.]]

** At some point in the second and third games, Goal winds up in revealing attire. In ''Chaos on Deponia'', Spunky Goal dons a fur-bikini ensemble for the Platypus Bataka minigame, while in ''Goodbye Deponia'' she's ripped right out of her jumpsuit in the game's opening stanza. Both alternate outfits are used on the box art of their respective games. To top it all off, if you get all the collectibles, your reward is a naked pin-up of Goal (Unless you used the cheating method, then it becomes a similarly-revealing pin-up of Rufus.)

* MoodWhiplash: And how. [[spoiler:At the end of a series that has been a mostly light-hearted, adventurous outing of a {{Determinator}} to end all Determinators, with the hero's final goal in sight... he sacrifices himself and lets the bad guy win.]]

** One of the time machines parked outside the diner in Paradox City in ''Deponia Doomsday'' is called the [[DoctorWho Re-Tardis]].

** In ''Goodbye Deponia'' June at one point wears a very skimpy outfit while dancing provocatively, but as she's being humiliatingly forced to play the monkey for an organ grinder in order to earn a crank to get back to her boyfriend who, unbeknownst to her, is currently being consumed by some sort of PuppeteerParasite, it's hard to be titillated by the situation.